The Battle of the golden spurs
by XMelvdsX
Summary: Rose and the Doctor end up in Bruges 1302. The Battle of the golden spurs is one month away but soon the Doctor discovers that the French aren't the only thing the Flemish people should worry about, something's luring in the corners. Doctor X Rose
1. Chapter 1

So I was studying history while thinking of Doctor Who (not a good thing to do when you're studying) anyway before I knew it I imagined the Doctor and Rose walking around in Bruges chasing an alien while all the events were unfolding

**So I was studying history while thinking of Doctor Who (not a good thing to do when you're studying) anyway before I knew it I imagined the Doctor and Rose walking around in Bruges chasing an alien while all the events were unfolding.**

**Hope you'll like it :o**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, everything you read is either historical facts (unless you count an alien walking around in 14****th**** century Bruges being chased by Rose and the Doctor) or owned by the BBC ©**

**And here's the written trailer for the rest of the story.**

Doctor: I see you're reading Henry Conscience.

(Close-up from book with knight on the cover)

(Doctor and Rose getting out of the Tardis in a forrest.)

(Doctor and Rose in a tent-camp.)

Doctor: Rose, may I introduce you to Jan Breydel and Pieter De Coninck.

(cut to)

Pieter: Last night 16 men disappeared from our camp, either they're spies or murdered by the French.

(Cut to the Doctor bowing over a dead body)

Doctor: Well I don't know who killed him but I tell you one thing, they weren't French.

(Cut to)

Rose: What do you mean the Tardis is gone?

(Cut to)

Jan: Flanders the lion!

(cut to)

Doctor: They started.

(cut to)

Pieter: Six more men have disappeared from my camp last night and they all started to disappear since you came here Doctor!

(cut to)

Doctor: Rose, the French weren't the only enemies.

(Rose and Doctor kissing (duh!))

(Rose walking through an empty street, turns around and screams.)

Doctor: Rose!

**The battle of the golden spurs**

_Rose and the Doctor end up in Bruges 1302, two weeks before the 11__th__ of July, the battle of the golden spurs. As they meet up with Pieter De Coninck and Jan Breydel they soon discover that not only the French are Bruges' enemy, someone's lurking in the corners of the city._

"So where shall I take you next Rose Tyler? 16th century France? 89th century Timbuktu?" He pressed in a few buttons without really doing anything; it was his way of impressing people.

"Can't you just let the Tardis pick a random destination? See where it takes us?" Rose asked smiling, sitting in the captain's chair, holding a book she had found in the library.

"That's the most stupid idea I ever heard! Who knows where we'll get, might be in the kettle of a cannibal tribe. It's absolutely brilliant!"

Rose laughed and the Doctor pressed a big mauve button.

"What happened to red?"

"Never really was my colour. I see you're reading Henry Conscience."

At first she didn't know what he was talking about, then she realised she was still holding the book that she had found in the library.

She stared at the cover, _Henry Conscience "The Flemish Lion" _it said.

"Well I haven't started reading it yet, just saw this knight on the cover and thought it looked interesting."

"Looked interesting? Right Rose Tyler!"

He got up, pressed a few buttons and made the Tardis change his course.

"You were going to take us to Nothingham Forest 900BC? But than it was just a forest, no Robin Hood or anything."

"Where are you letting her take us now?" Rose asked curiously.

"Read the back of your book."

Rose turned the book around, and read the back.

"Flanders, 11th July 1302?" She read out loud.

"Yep!" The Doctor answered while pushing a few more buttons. "You see Rose Tyler, the book you are reading there is a classic, it tells the story of real events on that day but written as a novel in the 19th century by a guy who obviously never spoke to Pieter De Coninck or Jan Breydel."

"And who are they?"

He stopped pushing buttons stared at them for a little while longer and than turned towards her.

"Well the leaders of the Bruges Matins and the Battle of the Golden spurs of course." He answered as if it was natural that anyone would know about these events.

"Euhm the battle of the golden what?"

The Doctor stared at her with an expression of utter shock on his face.

"Don't tell me you never heard of those? You never heard of Jan Breydel? Pieter De Coninck? Shield and friend? France against Flanders?"

Rose shook her head.

"Right Rose Tyler, time for some history 101."

He went to sit down.

"The reason for the battle was a French attempt to subdue the county of Flanders, which was formally part of the French kingdom and added to the crown lands in 1297, but resisted centralist French policies. In 1300, the French king Philip IV appointed Jacques de Châtillon as governor of Flanders and took the Count of Flanders, Guy of Dampierre, hostage. This instigated considerable unrest among the influential Flemish urban guilds. After being exiled from their homes by French troops, the citizens of Bruges went back to their own city under the leadership of good old weaver Pieter De Coninck (and unlike that little book of yours will say Pieter De Coninck wasn't the head of the weaver's guild) and the butcher Jan Breydel and murdered every Frenchman they could find there on May 18, 1302, this is known as the Bruges Matins. According to legend, they identified the French by asking them to pronounce a Dutch phrase, schild ende vriend (shield and friend), the French had problems pronouncing it, kept saying 'Skielt en friend' so as soon as they found someone who couldn't pronounce it they murdered them in cold blood. Of course the French couldn't laugh with that, they became furious! The French king send a powerfull (and with powerfull I mean powerful) towards them under the leadership of Robert II of Artois, the nephew of the king's wife. The people from Bruges could get troops from surrounding cities like Ghent, Ypres and Zeeland. Okay so Zeeland isn't a city. Fact is that no matter how many troops they got they were still outnumbered by the French and besides that they also were normal everyday people while the French were knights and soldiers, people who knew how to fight. Yet on that day, the 11th of July 1302 those normal everyday people managed to win the battle from a professional army which was much larger than theirs. Nobody really knows how they managed to do that but my guess is that the French were just a bit too sure of themselves and the battle ground itself did not have many plus-points for them either. Anyway they lost and the Flemish people did not keep themselves to the custom rules, they did not take any prisoners but just killed them. Robert was killed."

Rose stared at the Doctor. "And the Flemish people?"

"Well, it's a bit like William Wallace actually, afterwards they were still defeated by the French in another battle. But the thought of that one battle that they had won is what lives within the Flemish country until today. The Flemish day is on the 11th of July."

"And that's where we're going now."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'm not taking you anywhere near that battle, we're going to the 16th of July before the Bruges Matins and leave before it starts."

Rose understood and stared back at the book, not being able to wait until she would read it.

She could not know however that the Doctor might not be able to keep his promise of leaving straight after.

**Okay so that's a huge piece of history in this chapter I told you.**

**I hope I had all the events right. **

**So, looking forward to continue to read this story or are you going to say "Meh, stupid story."**


	2. Chapter 2

Okay so today's the 11th of July, last chapter explains why I suddenly remembered this story and decided to write another chapter for it

**Okay so today's the 11****th**** of July, last chapter explains why I suddenly remembered this story and decided to write another chapter for it.**

**If anyone wonders about the names I gave the Doctor and Rose, they're just the Dutch versions.**

The Doctor and Rose both got out of the Tardis and looked around.

They had landed at the edge of a forest and looked out on a field.

Mist covered the landscape and at the horizon they could see the sun was about to get up.

"Smell that air Rose! Flanders 1302!"

Rose pulled her cloak close around her body.

She couldn't share the Doctor's enthusiasm.

It was still cold because the sun hadn't come up yet, the dew on the grass made her primitive leather shoes and her feet wet and the only air she could smell was that of a few cows standing an end away from them, staring at them in surprise.

Even cows knew that they were the weirdest pair for miles, maybe even in the whole wide world at this specific time.

"Aren't there any roads around here?"

"Of course! Hang on a second."

His hand went inside his jacket end he took a small device out of it.

"Is that a GPS?"

"Don't insult it! You don't want me to call you a monkey do you?"

"Yet you do. What is that then?"

A smile appeared on his face as he held it up.

"I bought it a few weeks ago, on our trip to mesapodemia. Wondered why I haven't done it before. It's an IMPS: Intergalactic and multi-era positioning system."

He presses a few buttons and shook his head in disbelief.

"Forgot to download the medieval-earth pack, how did I forget to download the medieval-earth pack? I even downloaded prehistorical-raxacoricofalapatorius but I… ow, we'll just do it old-school." He said more talking to himself than to Rose.

He looked around and pointed his finger.

"That way."

He walked through the field without watching out ofr any of the cow droppings and miraculously managed not to step in one while Rose had difficulties looking down trying her very hard not to step in one.

Finally they reached a road.

The sun was already visible and the mist was gone.

Rose's shoes and feet were soaking wet and cold.

"Nothing like a walk in the field, early in the morning." The Doctor said.

If he wasn't her designated driver Rose would've killed him.

Instead she walked further without saying a word.

"Unless you're planning to end up in France in three or four days I suggest you go that way."

She turned around and walked past him again in the opposite direction.

The Doctor shook his head, he knew that as soon as they reached the first signs of civilisation or as far as you could call it here, she would forget all about her "misery".

He followed her walking the next hour in utter silence.

The first sign of civilisation turned out to be a couple of women on their way to the field, they eyed the pair of them suspiciously.

"Goodmorning, I'm sorry to disturb you on your way but my wife and I are a bit lose, would you mind telling us where we are?"

One of them, a large woman of which Rose was sure she would be able to take out the entire French army by herself if she had to stepped forward.

"Who are you and what is your reason to travel in these dark times?"

The Doctor hesitated for a while, clearly even he was taken aback by her size.

"Euhm… I'm Jan Smid and this is euhm Roos Smid our house has been burned down by the French and we're looking for some place to stay."

The woman smiled.

"Of course you poor souls, this is my daughter Marieke." The woman said while pointing at a young girl with blond hair. "She'll bring you to our camp. It's a refuge for people who lost their homes to the French."

The Doctor nodded and the group of women continued while the young woman lead them to the other way.

"So your name's Marieke?"

Rose asked staring at the young girl, she couldn't have been older than 16 maybe 17.

The girl nodded.

"And you must be Roos, like the flower."

Rose smiled. "Yep, that's me."

"What's it like? Being married?"

Rose suddenly stared at the Doctor who looked just like her, rather uncomfortable.

"Euhm… I can't really say, I haven't been married for that long."

The girl nodded. "I've been asked to marry by Robin the bard but my father disapproves because he doesn't think he's good enough for him."

"Do you love him?"

The girl nodded.

"Than he should be good enough for you."

"Bard's don't earn enough money in order to raise a family."

Rose felt sorry for the girl, before she could say anything Marieke continued.

"He hopes that the oncoming battle with the French in Bruges might let him prove that he's worthy of my hand."

Rose stared at the girl, it might let him prove he was worthy but it might also get him killed and she knew that that might be the only thing on the girl's mind nowadays.

They continued the rest of their walk in silence until they arrived at a medieval camp.

**Hope you liked it.**


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